Made to Order: Two Cousins a welcome addition to downtown scene

Jul. 31, 2013

The crust makes every pizza at Two Cousins special. / Submitted photo by Seth Weibel

Written by

Seth Weibel

News Journal columnist

This week I had the pleasure of having three lovely ladies accompany me to Two Cousins Pizza, 103 N. Main St. in downtown Mansfield.

The owner, Brad Konves, is an entrepreneur like his cousin, who takes care of both Two Cousins locations, in Mansfield and Lexington. The Lexington store has been around two years. The Mansfield store almost a year. A third location may be coming soon.

Preparing for the day, I rode my bike 11 miles to make room for our mass feeding. It had been a great day since we also heard from one of our twin boys at Marine boot camp. You typically don’t want a call from Parris Island, fearing an accident. He was, however, rewarded by his drill sergeant for knocking another recruit’s mouthpiece out from a hard blow with a pugil stick. We had five wonderful moments talking to Silas, which put such a smile on Andrea’s face.

The two girls we took are the fiancé and girlfriend of the twins, so it was nice to talk to them over wonderful food.

What attracted me to visit this pizza palace was the beautiful location near a coffee shop, the Coney Island Diner, a bookstore with a fabulous food section and, of course, the Richland Carrousel Park. No one can argue Mansfield has taken great efforts to revitalize the downtown scene with renovations, cultural events, farmer’s market and niche stores.

I’ve been working with the Richland Farm Bureau to feature chefs demonstrating local produce and meats. While in the area, I bought tickets for Chef Andrea, Hannah and Sydney to ride the carrousel for the first time. It was fun to rediscover what’s happening downtown.

Two Cousins fits perfectly, since the center of town has few pizza establishments. With two pizza-making veterans ready for action, we were first treated to what most pizza places have ... wings. The Buffalo wings were bigger than I’ve had recently and they were meaty, juicy and lightly spiced with sauce. They have five sauces at Two Cousins. If you are feeling risky, they carry an Inferno sauce, sure to stand you up straight.

Our favorite wings were the parmesan garlic, served with ranch dressing, which proved as meaty as the original.

Immediately, a veggie cheese bread slid across our table with a vinaigrette and a thick, well-seasoned marinara. While Chef Andrea likes virtually no sauce, I am a sauce hound, so the sauce on the side works. It had fresh tomatoes, peppers and green olives topped with an abundance of perfectly browned mozzarella and provolone.

Our next offering was the Buffalo chicken slaw sub. All of us found the sweetness of the slaw helped tame the spicy chicken. It was so good, I finished the last little bit. It had a nice chunky homemade slaw Andrea loves.

Next up was the muffaletta stromboli, which was golden brown and was the size of the garland of roses upon the Kentucky Derby winner. It featured a dough filled artistically with an olive spread, salami and pepperoni along with plenty of cheese. I’ve eaten at the restaurant where the muffaletta originated in New Orleans, so this was a welcomed change from an ordinary stromboli. Their muffaletta sub and Italian sub also feature cappicola, one of my favorite deli meats.

On came the pizzas, starting with a reuben pizza topped with sauerkraut, corned beef, thousand island dressing and TC’s cheese blend. I’ve seen this pizza at some shops, but not in Mansfield, so we thank you, Two Cousins. Sydney was asked how she was doing at this and exclaimed “I’ll push through.”

The chicken bacon ranch pizza arrived and we all dove in, as if gaining a second wind. The bacon was super-thick and reminded Chef Andrea of her grandma’s baked ham at the holidays. The ample pieces of chicken kept their juiciness while a thin layer of ranch brought us to a hidden valley of pigs and chicks.

We also were treated to their deluxe pizza. It featured sausage, onions, pepperoni, black olives, peppers and lovely mushrooms. The dough makes every pizza special and complements the fresh toppings.

Our twins have mastered the three minutes they have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the military, so we fully intend to bring them to the “Gut Buster Challenge,” a giant 28-inch wheel of pizza that must be devoured in less than 60 minutes.

Take your business associate, girlfriend or family to a welcomed addition to downtown Mansfield. Two Cousins Pizza can be reached at 419-522-2211.

My next article will be covering the “Pig & Whiskey” event in Ferndale, Mich., with Food Network Chef Michelle Bommarito. If you’d like more information, check out “Pig & Whiskey” on Facebook.